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Fracking could spoil a precious resource

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We respond to the Dec. 2 letter “State has plenty of water for fracking” from Tom Stewart,
executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.

One of Ohio’s greatest resources is our water. Over the years we have been told to take care of
that resource and conserve whenever possible.

Remember the suggestion of placing bricks in our toilet tanks? How about turning the water off
while we are brushing our teeth? During droughts we have been asked to not water our lawns, or at
least not as often.

And now, suddenly, we have plenty of water for fracking?

Do the math, folks. Billions of gallons of our water used for fracking are contaminated by
yet-undisclosed chemicals (at least some of them) and thus must be put into injection wells, never
to be used again. Stewart and others from the oil and gas industry say “some” of the fracking
fluids are reused. How much?

The money factor is used to try to convince us that this is all OK. Those campgrounds and lakes
won’t be very attractive without water. This is not an unreasonable concern.